Using a plugboard to update series and series index?

[marshie250]

Hello! I have a plugboard question that I feel should be obvious but I cannot figure it out.

In Calibre, I have a custom column set up (text for keeping series-like information, named 'gseries') that I use to group books by genre, and then the series_index is my personal ranking of the books within that genre. I have a Kobo, and I would like to use this custom column as the series info when I send to my device, since I don't have that many actual series in my library and I would like to be able to sort books within their genre by the ranking I gave them. Is it replace the normal series metadata with this custom column using the plugboard?

I've seen a lot about adding series info to the title of the book, but I would rather not alter the display of the title.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by marshie250

Hello! I have a plugboard question that I feel should be obvious but I cannot figure it out.

In Calibre, I have a custom column set up (text for keeping series-like information, named 'gseries') that I use to group books by genre, and then the series_index is my personal ranking of the books within that genre. I have a Kobo, and I would like to use this custom column as the series info when I send to my device, since I don't have that many actual series in my library and I would like to be able to sort books within their genre by the ranking I gave them. Is it replace the normal series metadata with this custom column using the plugboard?

I've seen a lot about adding series info to the title of the book, but I would rather not alter the display of the title.

Currently a plugboard can set the series name but not the series_index.

Setting the series_index seems like a reasonable thing to do. I will look at making the needed calibre changes tomorrow.

[marshie250]

Originally Posted by chaley

Currently a plugboard can set the series name but not the series_index.

Setting the series_index seems like a reasonable thing to do. I will look at making the needed calibre changes tomorrow.

Wow, thank you!

[chaley]

Moderator Notice
Moved to its own thread to make the info easier for others to find.

[chaley]

The change is now in calibre source, and will be included in the next release.

To use it, set up a plugboard with entries for both "series" and "series_index". The attachment is an example. You must ensure that the column lookup name matches what is in your library, as well as setting the format and device appropriately.

[marshie250]

Originally Posted by chaley

The change is now in calibre source, and will be included in the next release.

To use it, set up a plugboard with entries for both "series" and "series_index". The attachment is an example. You must ensure that the column lookup name matches what is in your library, as well as setting the format and device appropriately.

Thank you so much!

[DNSB]

Tested and looked good here.

[chaley]

The change is in today's calibre release, 7.17.

[stasiana]

I have a similar situation. No series books, so want to use the field on the Kobo to show extra information. This is what I have:



But the information doesn't show on the device after I sideload a new book. If I instead move the template to update the title field instead, then it works properly.

I have some other books where the series and series_index is manually set in metadata and it does show as expected.

Ideas?

[DNSB]

You will need to first connect and send to device after which the book will be imported. After tha, you will reconnect, hopefully with metadata management set to auto (Preferneces => Send to Device => Metadata management => Automatic management. You need to have the book imported to the Kobo device's database before calibre can update the metadata such as page counts, series/index, etc. I'm assuming that you have the KoboTouch driver configured to send the series information on tab 3 of the driver configuration dialog.